A Thread For Me To Rag On Merus' Imprecise Use Of Certain Words

[James]

It's a proper word you can find in dictionaries, if you want a more thorough definition.

[Mangela Lansbury]

I always associate twee with a bumbling professor aesthetic, but I think that's because it's almost tweed.

[SuperBiasedMan]

I didn't even realise twee was questionable? I guess being between your two landmasses makes it hard to know what's not common usage. I've also had trouble using the word yoke to mean 'some general indeterminate thing'. One person thought I was talking about a harness for an ox.

[Mawd]

I didn't even realise twee was questionable? I guess being between your two landmasses makes it hard to know what's not common usage. I've also had trouble using the word yoke to mean 'some general indeterminate thing'. One person thought I was talking about a harness for an ox.

 

If you used it like you're suggesting I would also need context before I start to think you're a farmer whose tractor has broken down.

[SuperBiasedMan]

If you used it like you're suggesting I would also need context before I start to think you're a farmer whose tractor has broken down.

 

"I'm up late cause I was working on a yoke."

I can see that, if I was a dedicated farmer.

[Mawd]

"I'm up late cause I was working on a yoke."

I can see that, if I was a dedicated farmer.

 

Heh, even with context its still a degree or two off my expectation.

 

You turning out to be a dedicated farmer (at least an enthusiastic one) is more familiar a situation to me than someone using 'yoke' in a context off from "I have a giant thing pressing down on my right now".

[Twig]

It's a proper word you can find in dictionaries, if you want a more thorough definition.

I do not. I want the internet definition, as that's who uses it! The definition as provided suffices.

 

I always associate twee with a bumbling professor aesthetic, but I think that's because it's almost tweed.

Oh man that's exactly what my association was for the longest time, which definitely didn't help assuage my confusion.

 

I think I used "assuage" correctly, but suddenly I'm self-conscious. Did I just merus that word right up?

 

(I like it because "merus" is sorta close to "mess" and they mean the same thing in the context I have set. :3)

[Badfinger]

The way I see "twee" applied in usage today is basically in line with what the definition actually is. I think it's picked up a couple of connotations because it's almost always used to describe certain GROUPS of things. The descriptor is correct, though.

 

 

Also... wow, I have never heard or seen yoke used that way. Definitely not a common colloquialism. The only usage I've ever seen for that outside of an actual yoke or the yoke of oppression is to describe someone as all muscle-y. "Yoked up". Usually football players.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Oh, I didn't make it clear. Yoke is just Irish. Apparently the Brits don't even use it? I'd be surprised if many did know it.

[Twig]

I've seen yoke used that way, but I've never seen it used to describe someone as all muscle-y!

[Ben X]

No, yoke isn't well known in Britain. But an Irish guy on the Size Five forums said, after we'd watched I've Got A Horse Outside:

 

A bag of yokes. Yokes is slang for ecstasy.

 

We make it up as we go along.

 

In most contexts yoke means anything at all.

 

EDIT: though someone used it in a metaphorical spin-off of the oxen-related meaning - to shake off the patriarchy's oppressive yoke, for instance.

[Badfinger]

I've seen yoke used that way, but I've never seen it used to describe someone as all muscle-y!

 

It is absolutely used in the realm of American jock culture, so if you're not exposed to that or don't care about sports enough to have old sportsballers yell at you on TV about sports it's not likely you've come across it.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Oh yeah, I've heard yokes used for various drugs too. It's a word that means very little but it's fun to say so I still cling to it.

[James]

I want the internet definition, as that's who uses it!

Really? I'd say I've encountered it used offline at least as often as online.

[Twig]

I've never ever heard anyone use the term "twee" anywhere off the internet.

 

But that's not what I meant by that statement at all. I meant "it's used a lot by people to mean a thing" and so "I want to know what those people mean, not what some dumb dictionary tells me" because dictionaries are by and large pretty fucking useless these days! Everyone's using words incorrectly all the time, so why bother with actual definitions.

 

Mostly, though, it's more fun to ask questions and get answers than it is to just look everything up.

 

You know, talking to people. It's cool sometimes.

[James]

You know, talking to people. It's cool sometimes.

I find that very hard to believe.

[Ben X]

Everyone's using words incorrectly all the time, so why bother with actual definitions.

 

Sob.

[Twig]

ehehehe

[dibs]

yokes means either E or a general thing, i've never heard it for any other drugs.

[Dewar]

It is absolutely used in the realm of American jock culture, so if you're not exposed to that or don't care about sports enough to have old sportsballers yell at you on TV about sports it's not likely you've come across it.

 

And here I always thought that was a reference to the raw eggs in Rocky.